Lovesee next USD 205 superintendent

Bluestem High School Principal Joel Lovesee has accepted the position of superintendent of USD 205.

Comment

By Kari Adams

Butler County Times Gazette

By Kari Adams

Posted Feb. 25, 2014 at 7:00 AM

By Kari Adams

Posted Feb. 25, 2014 at 7:00 AM

Leon

After 11 years working in education, Bluestem High School Principal Joel Lovesee is looking forward to the future after accepting the position of superintendent of USD 205.

“I really like this district,” said Lovesee. “I have three daughters in elementary school and it feels like we’ve found a great place to stay.”

Lovesee began his teaching career in 2002 after falling in love with teaching his senior year of high school.

“I have always loved school,” said Lovesee. “I was a teacher’s aid during my senior year of high school and I really enjoyed it. When I first started college at Fort Hays State University, I was a business major. Shortly after that I changed to education because I loved it so much. I was very excited when I told my wife that someone would actually pay me to go to school.”

Lovesee brings with him the experiences he has gained through teaching at different schools in different parts of the country.

“The first five years of my teaching career in Logan, Kan., which is an hour north of Hays,” said Lovesee. “After that, I spent a year in Alaska working as a principal before moving to Bluestem. I’ve been here for five years.”

Throughout his career, Lovesee has taught a wide variety of students.

“I started out teaching junior high school students, grades 7-9 math and science,” he said.

Lovesee, who has worked with current Superintendent Randy Rivers since starting at Bluestem, will continue the legacy of improvement.

“Our district is in a really unique spot,” said Lovesee. “I would like to see the district keep moving forward. I have really enjoyed working with Mr. Rivers for the past five years and when it came to the superintendent position, we didn’t want someone new from the outside coming in and changing it.”

Lovesee is positive about the impact Rivers has made at the district and hopes to further provide opportunities to children in the district.

“The district has made a lot of changes in the last few years,” said Lovesee. “I want to continue to move us forward and keep our district going. We have been really stable for the last two years especially with the enrollment in other schools going down.”

Lovesee also plans to add new opportunities and programs to the district for the students.

“I would like to increase our early childhood opportunities,” said Lovesee. “We will continue working on increasing our graduation rate and we are looking at adding both an after school program as well as an alternative school. We hope to begin doing the little things better for our students.”

Page 2 of 2 - Kari Adams can be reached at kadams@butlercountytimesgazette.com.